~ Winemakers. Vineyards. Reviews.

Monthly Archives: March 2012

Bell Street Farm, the restaurant and market that has called Los Alamos home for less than one year, on Friday, March 30, debuted its new breakfast menu, said owner Jamie Gluck.

“We have had incredible response to our new business, but diners have been telling us they would like the option of breakfast,” he said.

Among the new entrees and items are a porchetta hash that Gluck created from Bell Street’s signature rotisserie pork. The breakfast menu will also include soft boiled eggs served with toasted ciabatta, baked eggs (in cream and herbs with pepato cheese), and morning charcuterie and cheese.

In addition, chef Evan Klein bakes granola, scones and croissants.

Bell Street Farm’s hours and days remain the same: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Monday. Breakfast will be available from 10 a.m. to noon on those days.

Bell Street’s market showcases picnic baskets and accessories for assembling portable meals to accompany a day of wine tasting.

Avant Tapas and Wine, Buellton — Santa Rita Hills’ Rockin’ Wine Tasting and “Club Avant,” 5 to 11 p.m. Join 16 of the winemaking members of the Sta. Rita Hills Wine Alliance as they pour wine produced in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. Meet the winemakers and get a souvenir tasting glass. Cost is $20; all proceeds from wine tasting will benefit the Avantastic Relay for Life Team benefitting the American Cancer Society. Following the tasting will be a Prix Fixe, family-style dinner: $35 plus tax and gratuity. From 9 to 11 p.m., Club Avant. Limiting seating for dinner. Tickets: 686-4742. Information: http://www.avantwines.com. Avant is located at 35 Industrial Way, Buellton. Follow the driveway and signs to the rear of Terravant.

Sanford Winery & Vineyards, Lompoc — Friday Night Wine Down, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Enjoy Sanford wines for purchase by the glass along with complimentary light appetizers and live music. No cost to attend; reservations appreciated but not required. Sanford is located at 5010 Santa Rosa Rd., east of HIghway 1. Information: http://www.sanfordwinery.com

Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Festival, Los Olivos — Weekend of wine tasting and special events, highlighted by the annual festival on Saturday, April 21, at a new location, the property known as the “The Carranza,” on Zaca Station Road just east of Highway 154. During the festival, the SBCVA’s winemaking members, who number more than 110, gather to pour and discuss their wines alongside the Central Coast’s top restaurateurs and caters, proffering samples of their food. Festival also includes live music and a silent auction, featuring large-format bottles, vacation packages and special dinners with local winemakers. A unique feature of the weekend is the Vintners’ Visa, a multi-day passport to one’s choice of 12 of the many wineries that offer special tastings for one price — $35. Wineries participating as of March 28 include Ampelos, Andrew Murray Vineyards, Baehner-Fournier (at Bin 2860, Los Olivos), Bedford Winery, Buttonwood Farm, Cambria, Carr, Casa Dumetz, Coghlan Vineyard & Jewelers, Costa de Oro, Dascomb Cellars, Demetria, Dierberg, Dragonette Cellars, Fontes & Phillips, Imagine, Municipal Winemakers, Oreana Winery, Palmina, Point Concepción Wines Rancho Sisquoc, Riverbench, Roblar, Royal Oaks, Sanford Winery, Scott Cellars, Sevtap, Silver Wines, Stolpman Vineyards, Summerland, Tercero Wines and Zaca Mesa. Check wineries’ respective websites for specific discounts and events. Visit http://www.sbcountywines.com for updates on participants as Vintners’ Festival weekend nears. Ticket details: Festival: 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 21, on site located approximately 1.5 miles east of Highway 154 along Zaca Station Road. Parking available. Tickets: $75 advance, and $85 at door (if available); Vintners’ Visa: $35; Designated Driver: $25; VIP tickets to festival, noon entry, $100 (wine only; food served beginning at 1 p.m.). Combination festival and Vintners’ Visa tickets: $100. Roundtrip shuttle service will be available from locations in Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and Solvang. From Santa Barbara: 11:30 a.m. pickup at Fess Parker Doubletree Resort, Cabrillo Boulevard at Calle Puerto Vallarta; from Santa Maria: 11:45 a.m. pickup at the Holiday Inn & Suites, Broadway; and from Solvang, noon pickup at Hotel Corque, 300 Alisal Road. After the festival ends at 4 p.m., the buses will wait for all passengers to re-board before returning to their destinations. Roundtrip tickets: $25 each. All categories of tickets available via http://www.sbcountywines.com, and by phone: (888) 330-6744. Information: information@sbcountywines.com

Saturday only, April 21

Sanford Winery & Vineyards, Lompoc — Open house to coincide with Vintners’ Festival weekend, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Taste current and new releases on the patio that overlooks Sanford’s historic vineyards, and tour the winery and barrel taste with cellar master Auggie Rodriquez. Barbecue and live music. Cost: $30 general; $20 wine club members and Vintners’ Visa participants. Sanford is located at 5010 Santa Rosa Rd., east of HIghway 1. Information: http://www.sanfordwinery.com

Sunday, April 22

Buttonwood Farm Winery & Vineyard, Solvang — Hike in the vineyard with winemaker Karen Steinwachs and soil guru Stan Kadota; they will discuss bud break, pruning and more, and the various wines available for tasing during the tour; and on April 29, tour the gardens at Buttonwood with Seyburn Zorthian and Abel Navaro and end with a tasting of “savory” wines on the patio of the tasting room. RSVPs are required; the $10 cost includes the tour, wine tasting and logo wine glass. Buttonwood Farm Winery, 1500 Alamo Pintado Road, Solvang. Information: info@buttonwoodwinery.com, or 688-3032.

Cold Heaven Cellars, Buellton — Join winemaker Morgan Clendenen at Cold Heaven’s open house, which will include lunch and rare magnums for tasting and sales. Cost: $15 at the door. Cold Heaven Cellars is located at 92-A Second St., Buellton. http://www.coldheavencellars

Clos Pepe Estate Vineyards, Lompoc — Open House at the winery, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Taste current releases and library wines and chat with winemakers Wes and Chanda Hagen. Magnums available for sale and pending orders will be available for pickup. Taste the 2011 wines in the barrel. Cost: $10 for tasting. Clos Pepe Winery is located at 1273 W. Laurel Avenue in Lompoc. No reservations required. Information: http://www.clospepe.comor 686-1343.

Ongoing

D’Vine Wine Bar, Lompoc — JBird Surf Designs and Lone Coast Studios present “The Birth of Surfboard,” a show that captures the various stages that end in a finished product — a hand-crafted surfboard. Exhibit continues through April. Information: http://www.LoneCoastStudios.com. D’Vine Wine Bar is located at 107 W. Ocean. Information: 735-8771, e-mail: winebardvine@gmail.com

Gather Wine Bar, Arroyo Grande — Live music Friday and Saturday evenings; wines by the glass and full menu. Winemaker Wednesdays offer three tastes, discounts on wines by the bottle and a chance to meet the winemaker, all for $10. Gather Wine Bar is located at 122 E. Branch St., Arroyo Grande. Hours: 1 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 2 to 11 p.m. Friday, 1 to 11 p.m. Saturday, and 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday. View all events at http://www.eventbrite.com/org/462843382. (805) 474-4771; http://www.gatherwinebar.com; info@gatherwinebar.com

Taste in the Vineyard, Santa Barbara County — Spend a morning or afternoon in the tranquility of Santa Ynez Valley vineyards with exclusive access during a walking tour, led by Lee Tomkow. Learn how vines are managed and how wine is produced from a guide who will detail clonal differences, rootstocks and how to identify varietals, among them syrah, sangiovese and grenache. Tour times: 9 a.m. to noon, or 1 to 4 p.m. daily except Saturday. Reservations required; each tour limited to 10 people. Cost: $50 per person. Information and reservations: 693-4424, or http://www.vineyardwalkingtours.com.

Congratulations to the volunteer organizers behind Sunday’s highly successful Locals’ Day at the Lompoc Wine Ghetto.

Despite rain and cool temperatures, several hundred Lompoc and VAFB residents descended on the jewel located in their own backyard, the collection of 18 different wine labels housed in the Sobhani Industrial Park, a.k.a the “Wine Ghetto.”

The event also included food from four vendors — Cecco Ristorante of Solvang, Crocs Sandwiches, American Host Catering and Bell Street Farms.

Sunday’s event was the second annual, and organizers plan to bring it back in 2013.

Like many winemakers, Ernst Storm has a love-hate relationship with wine scores.

“I never liked scores,” he said, nor the “games” that critics sometimes play with winemakers. So Storm declined to submit the wines from his Storm Wines label for review, and instead kept his focus on crafting wines that paired well with friends and flavorful foods.

Then his friend and fellow winemaker, Gavin Chanin of Chanin Wine Company, was named by Forbes.com as one of the magazine’s “30 under 30” hottest new winemakers.

And so, Storm explained, he reconsidered his stance and submitted all three of his wines — a Santa Maria Valley pinot noir, and two from the Santa Ynez Valley — sauvignon blanc and syrah — for reviewers to sample and rate.

Earlier this year, the results came in: Wine & Spirits awarded 90 points each to his 2010 Sauvignon Blanc and the 2008 Syrah. Then, in February, Wine Enthusiast released its own set of favorable scores: a 91 for Storm’s 2008 Le Bon Climat Pinot Noir, and a 92 plus “Editor’s Choice” for his 2008 Santa Ynez Valley Syrah, he said.

Is Storm now a believer? Yes — and no, for still, he notes, reviews are based upon “the power of perception.”

That said, Storm, 32, a native of South Africa, is grateful for the honors. He’s got years of winemaking and consulting to his name, and understands that good scores help boost brand recognition.

By our interview on Feb. 29, Storm had sold all but about 80 cases of his 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, and will release the 2011 vintage, also 300 cases, come summer. That sauvignon blanc was sourced from four vineyards: La Presa, McGinley, Kingsley and Curtis, he said.

“These four sites perfectly capture the four corners of the Valley, from cool to warm to hot.”

When he pulled a tank sample for a visitor, the wine radiated a rush of grapefruit on the nose and palate and the “grassy style” varietal characteristics that Storm prefers in sauvignon blancs. He describes his as a summertime wine, one to enjoy before or during dinner, since its crispness makes it a fine pairing for the Mediterranean food so popular in our region.

In 2012, Storm will produce his first single-vineyard sauvignon blanc from the Santa Maria Valley’s Presqu’ile Wines’ vineyard.

His 2009 Pinot Noir is a blend from the Presqu’ile and Le Bon Climat vineyards, and Storm calls it “the best pinot I’ve made” to date. For his 2010 vintage, he sourced pinot from John Sebastiano, a Sta. Rita Hills vineyard that the likes of Paul Lato, Matthias Pippig (Sanguis) and Adam Siduri (Siduri) have utilized for their labels.

Storm plans to keep production of Storm Wines’ case production at its current 500 cases in order “to keep it personal,” for while he’s utilizing a broker for his San Diego sales, the remainder of his distribution and marketing efforts are “all me.”

Storm and his fiancée, attorney Brooke Sorensen, are planning a summertime wedding, he said.

After growing up in Hermanus, a small, fishing village in Walker Bay, Storm studied winemaking at Elsenburg Agricultural College, also in the Western Cape, graduating in 2001. His brother, Hannes Storm, is the winemaker at Hamilton Russell Vineyards, a prestigious producer of estate chardonnay and pinot noir. Hamilton Russell is located just inland from Hermanus in the cool Hemel-en-Aarde Valley appellation.

Ernst Storm began his career working at Amani, located in one of the coolest parts of the Stellenbosch region, under the tutelage of Rod Easthope, now of Craggy Range Winery, New Zealand.

From Amani, Ernst joined Hannes in consulting for a “few small producers” in South Africa, where he continued to envision making a wine that would be the best of his homeland, which is based on some French, Old World techniques, and the New World.

In the years that followed, he followed his passion to the United States, and ended up in the much-warmer Amador County of California, where in worked for Renwood, in Plymouth, before relocating to Santa Barbara County and beginning at Firestone Wines in 2005.

In 2007, the Firestone family sold its wine brand, 300 vineyard acres, more than 200,000 cases of wine in barrels and the Zaca Station Road production facility and tasting room to Foley Family Wines, but retained Curtis Winery, the Curtis estate vineyard and another Firestone family property, Rock Hollow Vineyard on Ballard Canyon Road, as well as Firestone Walker Brewer Company and the Firestone Taproom restaurant in Buellton.

General manager slash winemaker Chuck Carlson, part of the winemaking team at Firestone since 1993, remained with the Firestone family after the sale, and he brought Storm aboard at Curtis Winery as assistant winemaker.

Last summer, Storm said, he took over the winemaking reins from Carlson, which freed up the latter to expand his role as general manager and sales director for Curtis and the other two labels. After working together for several years, the two men are a solid team.

“Putting Curtis on the map is our common goal here,” Storm emphasized.

As lead winemaker, he is responsible for production of all three Firestone family labels: Curtis, Jarhead Wines and Rock Hollow Wines.

Among Curtis’ wines are several single-varietal Rhônes and the Heritage series, which includes three Rhône cuvees — red, rose and white.

The Curtis label is regularly honored by judges in state and local competitions, as well as by reviewers. Among its recent ratings are those from James Suckling: 92 points for the 2010 Heritage Blanc, 91 for the 2009 Heritage Cuvee and 90 points for the 2010 Viognier, Storm noted.

The Jarhead Wines label includes a chardonnay, red blend and a reserve blend of cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon, Storm said. Proceeds from the sale of Jarhead Wines go to the Marine Corps Scholarship Fund for the children of fallen soldiers; Adam Firestone, oldest son of Brooks and Kate Firestone, was a captain in the Marines.

The Rock Hollow wines are a chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and a sauvignon blanc.

Together, annual production of the Jarhead Wines, Rock Hollow and Curtis Wines’ has reached nearly 15,000 cases, Storm said. Showing a visitor to the winery’s lab a thick binder containing reports about every wine produced under all three labels, Storm is quick to add that increased quantity does not come at the expense of quality.

“If you treat each wine like it’s the only wine you make, the quality will always come through.”

Four California winemakers, two from Santa Barbara County and two from Sonoma County, are adding their names, support and wine to several dinners, part of a series of “Unforgettable Events,” to honor the memory of a woman who died a brutal death.

The dinner to launch the second year of these events, which take place June 7 to 9 at the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, Hawaii, took place Feb. 27 in Santa Barbara at that city’s Four Seasons Biltmore Resort.

June’s three-day event will include seminars hosted by Master Sommeliers Roberto Viernes and Chuck Furuya with open-format tastings of two wines from each of the four winemakers, as well as wine-pairing dinners, each featuring one of the winemakers and the resort’s three restaurants — Ferraro’s, Spago Maui and DUO.

The final, gala dinner will be served at an oceanfront restaurant, and will feature Four Seasons Maui Executive Chef Roger Stettler’s “farm to table” cuisine, plus 32 pinot noir and eight chardonnay vintages.

Saturday, June 9, a golf tournament at the Wailea Emerald Course will honor the Kimberly Project, wine produced from vines planted amid the Melville Estate Vineyard to honor winemaker Greg Brewer’s cousin, Kimberly, who was raped and murdered in November 1995 while jogging.

Brewer and Kimberly, a resident of Chicago, were just one year apart in age and very close, according to reports.

All proceeds from the tournament and from sales of the pinot noir wine produced from Kimberly’s vineyard benefit the North County Rape Crisis and Child Protection Center of Santa Barbara County.

During the Santa Barbara event, all four winemakers joined representatives from the Four Seasons Maui, including Stettler, who prepared three courses and dessert to pair with the wines — two pinot noirs and two chardonnays. One of the pinot noirs was the 2007 Brewer Clifton Kimberly Vineyard.

Speaking in lieu of Brewer, who was out of the country, an emotional Clifton described the Kimberly Project as the “chance to turn something horrifically negative into something positive.”

The Kimberly Project’s first vintage was released in 2005, a decade after the young woman’s death, and is sold via direct retail and to Brewer Clifton wine club members, Clifton noted. Each vintage of Kimberly pinot noir yields about two barrels.

When Burk rose to address the guests, he echoed Clifton, noting “you can’t not feel something and be human,” and termed the project as a “special moment of food and wine.”

When I flagged down Karen Steinwachs, WOPN board chairperson, she was slowly making her way through the crowd of hundreds packed inside the larger of the two Grand Tasting tents Saturday afternoon.

She looked like most of the rest of us felt — toasty, considering the number of bodies — but she voiced her pride in the obvious success of the event, as it was clear all guests were enjoying themselves sipping pinot noir, nibbling food and making new friends.

“Everything turned out very well,” she told me. “Especially the quality of the food; our goal this year was to bring the quality of the food up to the quality of the wine, and we did that.”

A factor in that equation was the debut presence of Santa Maria’s Central City Market, an absolute gem on Northern Santa Barbara County’s dining map. Erin Gromfin, co-owner with her husband and chef, Ryan, was delighted to have the restaurant join the WOPN action during both days’ Grand Tastings.

Matt Murphy, president of Presqu’ile Winery, is perfectly at ease in the business world.

As a member of the prominent South Arkansas family behind Murphy Oil, he is gracious and eloquent because he understands those traits pair well with success.

But, like a child cut loose in a candy store, Murphy radiates excitement when detailing his passion for wine — specifically that from grapes thriving in the Santa Maria Valley.

The back story

Presqu’ile (Press-KEEL) is French Creole for “almost an island.” Generations of the Murphy family enjoyed their own such idyllic site, located off the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, until the land was decimated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

During the years that followed, when Murphy worked in wine production in both the Napa region and on the Central Coast, he carried a vision in his head of what his family’s first efforts at California viticulture might create, and he literally put his palate to work searching for the end result.

Along the way, he met South African native Dieter Cronje, and as their friendship grew and they compared notes on wines discovered during their travels, all roads pointed back to the Santa Maria Valley.

In 2007 the Murphy family purchased a 200-acre site along East Clark Avenue, just northeast of the esteemed Solomon Hills Vineyard. Cronje and Matt Murphy got right to work, and by 2008 they had produced the first Presqu’ile vintage, a sauvignon blanc sourced from other vineyards in the Santa Maria Valley AVA. However, they released it only to friends and family, Murphy recounted.

Today

Cronje, Murphy and his wife, Amanda, as well as his siblings, Jonathan and Anna, now work with vineyard manager Jim Stollberg of Maverick Farming Company supervising the care and feeding of the estate, currently planted with 72 acres of chardonnay, pinot noir and syrah.

With several years of brand marketing via national winemaker dinners, symposiums and wine festivals, the Murphy siblings and Cronje have spun their passion for family, land and enterprise into a winery synonymous with Santa Maria Valley quality.

The latter is Presqu’ile’s debut all-estate wine, and when Murphy poured it for me in early February, it sang with fresh strawberries, plum and deep spice. This wine is fermented in stainless steel and concrete tanks with 40 percent whole cluster fruit, and aged in 50 percent new French oak.

Production of this estate pinot noir is limited to 310 cases, and will not grow; in contrast, the Santa Maria Valley (estate and Solomon Hills) blend represents a larger percentage of total production at 850 cases, he said.

The winery’s total case production has reached 2,200, where it will remain until the harvest of 2013, when the new estate production facility is finished and ready for use. Currently the wines are produced in a converted barn with temperature-controlled barrel storage, Murphy noted.

Production numbers aside, he calls the Santa Maria Valley blend a “friendly” pinot noir, made with 25 percent new French oak, which imparts “body, spice and fine, young tannins,” Murphy explained.

However, the Presqu’ile estate, which Murphy fondly calls “our baby,” is ground zero for the family’s mantra: “varietal, vintage, place.”

In June 2008, the family purchased 13 acres of the adjacent Addamo Estate vineyard, which included 10 acres already planted to pinot noir clones 667 and 777, he said. In 2008 the family sold the fruit, but the following year, included it in the first Presqu’ile estate vintage.

The 2010 rosé, a 100-percent pinot noir from Solomon Hills and Presqu’ile, displays both elegance and cream with a strong finish. It’s definitely a crowd pleaser, as witnessed at Prequ’ile’s industry open house Feb. 29 at the new tasting room in Los Olivos: A good rosé brings people together. Guests greeted Cronje and Murphy family members while nibbling appetizers from Brothers Restaurant, soon to relocate from Mattei’s Tavern to the building next door to the one housing Byron and now Presqu’ile.

Available in very limited supply is the remainder of the 2010 Presqu’ile sauvignon blanc, a 200-case production. The 2011 vintage, a 50-50 split between Riverbench Vineyard and the first estate sauvignon blanc, doubled in size to approximately 400 cases, Murphy said, and is scheduled for release in May.

“The 2010 sauvignon blanc blew all of our minds. Santa Maria has a great potential” for the varietal, with the natural minerality that stems from the chalk in local soils.

The 2009 chardonnay is one he describes as moderately oaky despite being crafted with only 10 percent new French oak barrels; most of the wood used for the chardonnay comes from one- and two-year old barrels, he noted.

The use of new-versus-neutral oak, or oak versus stainless steel, is a process Murphy compared to the addition of salt and pepper to cooking. It sounds basic, but every step utilized along the way molds a different character actor.

In their effort to “both build wines that age but are also accessible right away,” Amanda and Matt Murphy, his siblings and Cronje prefer the “hands-off” style of winemaking that lets their preference for all-native fermentations shine through from the aging process to the bottle.

But above all, Presqu’ile means “place.” For the Murphy family and Cronje, it speaks of Southern hospitality and grace paired with Santa Maria Valley’s finest grapes. It’s home.